Austrian disappointment I

The bid by Ulrike Lunacek, an Austrian Green MEP, to become head of the EU’s office in Kosovo has run into a seemingly insurmountable legal problem.

Lunacek says that aides to Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign policy chief, “encouraged” her to apply for the position. But she has now been told that she is ineligible because she is not an official of the European Commission, nor of the Council of Ministers, nor a diplomat from a member state. Being a member of the European Parliament is not good enough, according to the rules set down in a political agreement on the formation of the European External Action Service reached between the Council of Ministers and, er, the European Parliament.

Lunacek says that she was aware of the requirement when she applied but was told it would not be a problem since the head of office in Pristina is in line to become EU Special Representative to Kosovo at the end of July, and anyone, in principle, can be EUSR.

Lunacek says her rejection raises a broader question: “Whether the EU wants more of a political figure in Kosovo?” Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that five member states refuse to recognise Kosovo, the answer appears to be ‘No’.